Lily's secret
by mbrselley
Summary: Harry Potter has a secret. He's kept this secret his whole life, but now he must choose between a friend's life and keeping his secret. What will he do, and how will his life change because of it?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Harry tossed and turned in his four-corner bed in a futile attempt to achieve the state of sleep he so desperately needed. Finally, he collapsed in defeat. It was no use, tomorrow was creeping closer and closer and with it the second task of the Triwizard tournament in which Harry was an unwilling participant. The final hours were ticking by and he had failed. He had gone through the entire library and found nothing that would help with tomorrow's task. At this point he had two choices, sit on the dock and look like an idiot while the other champions finished the task without him or reveal the secret he had been keeping as long as he could remember. The idea of not even trying appalled him, but he shuddered to think what would happen if the wizarding world found out about him, and it would be the whole wizarding world because the press was on the lookout for a good story. So that settled it, revealing his secret wasn't an option and he had failed to find a way to make a human survive underwater. The only thing left to do was sit on the dock, wait out the task, and hope that whatever they took wasn't that important.

_Later:_

_NO! Surely, they wouldn't… RON! _Thoughts spun chaotically through Harry's mind as he struggled to come to terms with the latest development as he approached the black lake. The crowd rumbled in anticipation as though this were the greatest entertainment. His friend was currently at the bottom of the lake! How could their fellow classmates be okay with this?! 'The taunting clue that should have warned him spun in his mind.

_ Come seek us where our voices sound_

_ We cannot sing above the ground_

_ And while you're searching ponder this_

_ We've taken what you'll sorely miss_

_An hour long you'll have to look_

_ And to recover what we took_

_ But past an hour, the prospect's black_

_ Too late, it's gone, it won't be back_

_Won't be back?! _Harry looked desperately to the professor's present as he stepped onto the dock. How could they allow this? If he failed, his friend would drown! The professors avoided his pleading gaze, all except Snape, who met his gaze with his usual sneer. Harry panicked. His friend was down there and only had an hour before he… _NO!_ He wasn't even going to think it. Harry faced the lake with the other champions his mind going a mile a minute. He had the ability to save him, but to do it here in front of 3 schools, various members of the press, and ministry officials? He had never told anyone, not even Ron and Hermione. He had wanted to tell them, had thought he could trust them, but after they turned on him when his name came out of the goblet, he couldn't chance it.

_STOP! _He forced his thoughts to be still. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. Harry took a deep breath as he waited for the signal to sound, to end life as he knew it. After a moment the whistle echoed shrilly and the other contestants raced forward into the lake. Harry let of a breath and dove forward.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The first thing Harry registered as the water closed around him was the cold. It would be painfully frigid to an average human. But Harry was not normal, was not even fully human. Though the temperature caused him to worry about the other champions he himself was perfectly comfortable in the February lake. As he pondered the safety of encouraging children to swim in a half-frozen body of water his body began to change. Gills opened along his neck allowing him to take in oxygen while webbing grew between his fingers and his feet lengthened into flippers. His skin took on a green tint and his eyesight became impossibly clear. Despites his worries about revealing his secret Harry couldn't help the feeling of comfort and relief that came with being in water. He never felt safer and more at home than when he was in the water.

He first discovered his unique reaction to being underwater when he was 4 and Aunt Petunia was giving him a bath. She had forced his head underwater to rinse the shampoo from it. Now Harry was only four, but even at that age he understood people don't breathe underwater, and yet, the minute Petunia pushed his head underwater he found it if anything easier to breath and suddenly things weren't blurry anymore. Harry was startled from his admiring his clear sight by a shrill scream from Aunt Petunia. He remembered Uncle Vernon barging through the door and how his face promptly turned a stunning purple upon looking at Harry before shouting about freakishness. He didn't remember all of the beating that happened after that only waking up alone in the dark in his cupboard everything throbbing. At the time little Harry didn't understand what happened, just that for one moment he had been unbelievably happy being in the water. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon pretended nothing had happened, but Harry wasn't allowed to take baths anymore.

It wasn't until two years later at the age of 6 that Harry discovered what had set off his relatives. He was running through the wooded park down the road from number 4 in an attempt to escape Dudley and his gang. He was a good distance ahead of his pursuers when he tripped and went rolling down a slope right into a little pond. Once again he found himself quite comfortable under the water and not knowing what else to do Harry stayed still right where he was and hoped Dudley and his gang would pass by without seeing him. After about 20 minutes Harry cautiously peeked his head above the water. Looking and listening for his tormentors Harry was relieved to find himself alone. Crawling out of the pond Harry made his way to the park's restrooms hoping to find air dryers or paper towels he could use to dry himself off. He didn't mind being wet, but Aunt Petunia would be furious if he tracked dirty pond water into her clean house. Upon entering the bathroom Harry was caught by surprise when he saw himself in the mirror. Now he knew why Petunia had screamed, he was a monster! His skin was green, there were strange lines on his neck almost like cuts, but they didn't hurt, and his gaping mouth revealed a mouthful of sharp pointy teeth. Looking down at himself for the first time since he climbed from the lake, he found faint scales on his skin, webbing between his fingers, and sharp claws on the tip of his fingers. Out of curiosity harry took one of his trainers off to see if his feet were webbed too only to find his feet had grown longer and thinner and looked rather like the flippers he saw other children wear to the public pool (where he was strictly _Not _allowed on threat of a sound beating and a week of no food).

Simply put, Harry was scared. Why was he suddenly a monster? He had looked like a normal little boy earlier that day. Was this why his relatives called him a freak? Maybe he really didn't deserve a loving family. Unsure what was going on Harry cried. Fat tears rolled down his green tinted face and a melodic howl left his throat. Harry didn't know how long he cried, but by the time he was done his clothes and hair were mostly dry and his reflection looked like a normal (if still a bit damp) little boy. Hoping he wouldn't suddenly turn into a monster again Harry trudged back to the Dursleys' house where he was scolded for being late and muddy. Over the next couple days Harry was constantly afraid he'd turn back into a monster, but when a week passed and he was still his normal scrawny little self that fear began to turn into curiosity. What made him turn into a monster? Would he change again? Were his parents monsters too? Harry already spent plenty of time in the library hiding from Dudley and his gang, so he started researching. He didn't really know what he was looking but it was something that could breath under water, and had fins, and claws, and sharp teeth but also something that looked sort of human.

Harry was young but he was still a smart kid, even though his grades couldn't be better that Dudley's, so it didn't take long for him to realize the common factor between the two times he'd changed. He realized it happened the only two times in his life he can remember that he had been fully submerged in water. After a week of looking through the library he was pretty sure he had his answer. Water Nymphs. They were a mythological being from Greek mythology that looked mostly human, lived in fresh water, and was able to move about above the water as well. After he had his answer it was time to experiment. Harry started going back to the little pond he had stumbled into whenever he had a free moment. He came to love the feeling of swimming and being in the water. In his water nymph form, as he'd come to call it, he felt free and even a little powerful. But he knew he couldn't let anyone know, after all look how the Dursleys responded. As the years passed he had experimented and learned more about what he could do, and then his Hogwarts letter came. He wasn't surprised to learn that magic was real, he was after all a mythological being, but he had been excited at the idea of a whole school of people who were different like him. After arriving at Hogwarts he had made a point to research what they knew about water nymphs, what he found further convinced him to keep it secret. Wizards were apparently obsessed with mating with the rare water nymph that turned up because they produced extremely powerful witches and wizards, and at one time had kept them as a sort of mix of slave and exotic pet.

Harry was forcefully brought back to the present when something rocketed past him (was that Krum with a shark's head?!) towards the middle of the lake. Harry furiously shook his head, here he was reminiscing when his best mate's life was in danger. With renewed resolve Harry pointed himself towards the middle of the lake and shot off.


End file.
